In construction vehicles, hinges are often required to provide a large tilt angle and/or pivot angle between two components (machine parts) that are disposed at an angle relative to each other. In most cases, such hinge assemblies include a ball joint and/or a hinge bearing. Due to the required tilt angle or pivot angle between the machine parts, which angle can exceed 40° in some cases, the sliding spherical surface of the ball joint can come out of the range of the slide surface at the maximum tilt angle so that it will be directly exposed to environmental influences.
Therefore, regular maintenance of previously known hinge assemblies of the above-mentioned type is required. A maintenance-free embodiment has not been possible for the previously known designs.
In addition, increased wear occurs in the known hinge assemblies due to dirt particles being brought into the interior of the hinge assembly via the slide surface.